Away from their homes in one of the world’s most isolated and secretive states, some 11,000 North Korean soldiers are at the center of the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Little is known about North Korean troops deployed to support Russia in the multi-year its war in Ukraine – or what exactly they will be ordered to do – and their presence has not even been officially acknowledged by Moscow or Pyongyang.

U.S., Ukrainian, and South Korean intelligence agencies say the North Koreans have already engaged in combat operations alongside a Russian force of tens of thousands of troops to attack Ukrainian positions in Russia’s western Kursk region.

North Korea has suffered “several hundred” casualties – dead and wounded – in the Kursk region since sending thousands of troops into Russia in October, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

The North Korean soldiers “had never fought before,” the U.S. Defense Department source pointed out, which likely explains “why they suffered such casualties” in the fighting with the Ukrainians.

According to Ukraine, at least 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in fighting over the weekend alone in the villages of Kursk near the Ukrainian border. A Ukrainian unit reported that the North Koreans – wearing different uniforms from the Russians – had launched infantry attacks using “the same tactics as 70 years ago,” in an apparent reference to the Korean War, where waves of infantry were used.

Don’t underestimate them – The elite “Storm Corps”

However, some analysts warned against underestimating the North Koreans.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will send “the best” of an elite force of highly trained and “indoctrinated” soldiers known as the Storm Corps, according to retired Lt-Gen Chun In Bum, a veteran of the South Korean military.

Some are special forces, such as the US Navy’s SEALs or Marines or Britain’s SAS. Others are light infantry and snipers, he said.

The Storm Corps – the North Korean military’s 11th Army Corps – is “better trained, (has) better physique and (is) better motivated than the average North Korean soldier,” Chun said.

North Korean propaganda footage released this year by state media showed Kim overseeing special operations training that featured extreme displays of strength, such as breaking concrete blocks over the ripped torsos of soldiers who are naked to the waist.

Michael Madden, a nonresident fellow at the 38 North program at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., said this largest deployment of North Korean soldiers since the Vietnam War is equipped with “certain psychological tricks” to persevere.

“These guys are programmed. These guys are indoctrinated,” he said. “But the question is, how well indoctrinated? How well programmed are they?”

“They’re probably better prepared than other members of the military or other members of the military going into a foreign conflict, in terms of preparing their minds.”

“Key” in the battlefield is integration

Mental strength, however, may not be enough to overcome the worst challenges North Korean soldiers could face.

According to CNN, drone warfare has transformed the battlefield in Ukraine, bringing new levels of surveillance and destruction of military targets, as well as civilians and urban infrastructure.

Russia’s “meat grinder” tactics, particularly in the fighting over eastern Ukraine, have effectively offered Russian recruits to the slaughter.

South Koreans say Russia teaches soldiers about 100 basic military terms, such as “fire” and “in position,” and there are reports of command and communication issues.

In Russia, their training included artillery, drone handling and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, “which are critical skills for front-line operations,” according to the U.S. State Department.

And intelligence assessments suggest that North Koreans are integrating into the Russian military.

Moscow’s success in utilizing the troops “will depend in large part on how well the Russians can integrate them into their military,” the State Department said.

Whether they will be digging trenches, guarding outposts or actually fighting on the front lines remains unclear.

“When we catch them or see a body, then I will know for sure that they are here,” the unit commander in Ukraine’s 225th assault battalion told CNN in early December.

The bilateral Russia-North Korea joint defense treaty and the US role in the war

Russia and North Korea recently signed a bilateral treaty providing for joint defense that came into force in early December, according to Russian diplomacy. Article 4 of the document speaks of “direct military assistance” in the event of an attack by a third state.

For its part, the US has been Ukraine’s main military backer since the Russian invasion in February 2022 and the administration of President Joe Biden, who is nearing the end of his term, has in recent weeks multiplied announcements of military hardware shipments to Kiev’s armed forces.

There remains $5.6 billion in funds available, but not all of it is expected to be spent before the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration of Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about the aid, according to a senior U.S. Defense Department official yesterday (Tuesday).

The funds can, however, be transferred and “available for the next administration,” the official added.